Patrick Robinson (actor)

Patrick Robinson (born 6 November 1963) is a British actor best known for his work in the long-running medical drama series Casualty on BBC One. He played Martin "Ash" Ashford who was, in the early years of the show, a staff nurse and then a charge nurse. In later years he returned to the role after Ashford had become a consultant.

Robinson was the fifth of seven children born to a Jamaican-immigrant electrician father and his English-born wife. Robinson joined the South East London School Drama Group aged 14. The cousin of footballer and TV personality Ian Wright, Robinson was offered a trial at Southampton F.C., which he turned down to attend additional drama classes.

After studying architecture for a year, he left to join the Robert Stigwood organisation as a messenger boy. He then graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

On graduation he started his career in theatre, and then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, spending two seasons in Stratford-upon-Avon and then two in London.

Robinson left the RSC to join the cast of Casualty as the character Martin "Ash" Ashford, a nurse, beginning in 1990. He left the series but returned in 2013-14 to reprise the Ashford role as a Consultant. He returned to Casualty in 2016 as part of the anniversary celebrations.

Robinson played CIA agent Leon Washington in the 2003 action film Belly of the Beast, alongside Steven Seagal.

He appeared in an episode in the last series of the popular CBBC drama The Story of Tracy Beaker (TV series) as Crash Daniels's abusive father Theo.

In late 2007, he played former slave Thomas Peters who went on to become a leader in Sierra Leone, in a stage adaptation of Rough Crossings by historian Simon Schama at the Liverpool Playhouse.